BS212 - Evolution

Module content and teaching

Principal aims

introduce modern evolutionary theory with an appreciation of the enormity of Darwin’s argument. It also aims to illustrate why no biology or biochemistry can be properly understood without a historical perspective.

Principal learning outcomes

Darwinian thought on modern evolutionary theory.The ‘Modern Synthesis’ of Darwinism and genetics.Evolutionary and population genetic processes. The definition of, and distinction between, the different kinds of genetic polymorphism observed in populations, molecular evolutionary theory, the molecular clock concept,molecular evolutionary theory for phenetic comparisons and cladistic deductions.Mechanisms of speciation. Macro-evolution can be studied through comparative developmental biology and paleontology.How evolution is studied at the genome level in the wake of new technologies